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This study aimed to examine the level of Participatory Governance Competence among middle and high school students in Seoul, and to explore the differences in competence levels according to individual-level and school-level factors. To achieve this, a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative analysis using surveys and statistical analysis, and qualitative approach through FGI was conducted. The main variables were selected as ‘gender’ and ‘parents’ level of concern for social issues’ as individual factors, and ‘innovative school status’ as a school factor. The findings of this study are as follows. First, the Participatory Governance Competence of students scored above 3.5 out of 5 for all factors, but the school-level ‘autonomy’ and the societal-level ‘public interest and solidarity’ factors were relatively low. Second, there were differences in students’ competence levels depending on the ‘innovative school status’. In general, cognitive factors scored higher among regular school students, while normative factors scored higher among innovative school students. Third, there were differences in competence among students depending on gender or parents’ level of concern for social issues, confirming the need for efforts in school education. Based on these results, the following policy implications are proposed. First, there is a need to transform from ‘administratively existing student councils’ to ‘student councils with guaranteed substantive participation’. Second, schools need to regularize opportunities for student participation and feedback on decision-making to enhance students’ efficacy.
Lee et al. (Sun,) studied this question.